Best CRM for lead management

As a sales professional, effectively managing leads is critical to driving your sales pipeline and closing deals. Keeping track of prospects, follow-ups, and interactions can be overwhelming without the right tools. A dedicated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for lead management can help you organize leads, automate follow-up tasks, and provide real-time insights into your sales efforts—all from one platform.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the best CRM options for lead management, focusing on tools that will help you streamline your process, nurture leads effectively, and boost your sales performance.

How to evaluate and choose a CRM

With a lot of CRMs to consider, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start. To help you with your decision making process, and to make sure you find the right one that aligns with your needs, we've put together the following tips.

1. Define your requirements

Identifying the key features needed for your business is crucial when selecting the best CRM for lead management. Startup founders should look for functionalities such as lead scoring, automated follow-ups, customizable pipelines, and detailed analytics. Consider integration capabilities with your existing technology stack. Start by looking for these key features that we know will help with your lead management efforts.

Key features of a CRM for lead management

• Automated processes: Streamlines tasks by automating repetitive workflows.
• Contact enrichment: Automatically finds Leads, Customers email addresses and contact information, enhancing efficiency.
• Multiple pipelines: Tracks leads and customers through defined stages, ensuring process clarity and effectiveness.
• Mail merge and email sequences: Increases communication efficiency with follow-up templates and automated sequences.
• LinkedIn Connection: Seamlessly imports leads and customers from LinkedIn and Sales Navigator and bring all your contacts within the CRM.
• Analytics: Provides essential data analysis and predictive insights for better planning.

2. Shortlisting process

Researching and choosing the right CRM vendor involves several steps. Start by reading reviews and case studies from businesses similar to yours. Request demos and take note of the user experience and customer support. Engage with vendor representatives to understand their roadmap and how they can address your specific lead management needs.

3. Get a demo

Before diving into a new CRM for lead management, it's crucial to get a demo. A demo allows you to see the software in action, understand its features, and assess its suitability for your startup's specific needs. Try out and compare different CRM platforms to see which one aligns best with your lead management requirements. Use free trials or demo versions to test features like lead tracking, reporting, and automation. Compare the ease of use, scalability, and integration capabilities before making a final decision. Get started with a demo of folk here.

3 tips for implementing a CRM

1. Import Your Data in Your New CRM

Transitioning to a new CRM can seem daunting, but importing your existing data is a straightforward process. Once you have your data in CSV format, you can easily import it into your new CRM, ensuring a smooth transition.

3. Create your first pipeline

Setting up your first pipeline is a crucial step in optimizing your lead management. Design a pipeline that reflects the stages of your lead management process, such as "New Lead," "Contacted," "Qualified," and "Converted." This structured approach helps you track the progress of each lead and ensures no opportunities slip through the cracks.

4. Onboard Your Team

A CRM is only as effective as its users. Ensure your team is well-versed in the new system by providing comprehensive training sessions. Familiarize them with the CRM's features, best practices for lead management, and how to use the pipeline effectively. An empowered team will maximize the CRM's potential, leading to better lead management and higher conversion rates.

The 5 best CRMs for lead management

1. folk

folk is a modern CRM platform for managing contacts, workflows, and relationships, offering customizable pipelines, AI-driven tools, and integrations to enhance deal management and prospecting.

Key features

• Contact enrichment: Automatically enriches contact details by finding emails and LinkedIn URLs, enabling efficient outreach without manual data entry or additional costs for email services.
• Contact management: Bring together your contacts from multiple inboxes, social media platforms and more directly into one platform to get real-time information.
• Custom sales cycle and pipelines: Keep an eye on your sales cycle and create multiple pipelines and customize them using a Kanban dash board or listicle view to keep your leads organized. Use custom fields to segment, and have full control over user permissions.
• LinkedIn integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, import search lists and your contacts to leverage your network within folk, and use templates for quicker, streamlined communication.
• Mail merge and email sequences: Full email sync that's compatible with Gmail and Outlook, templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• AI-powered features: AI tools assist in managing contacts and relationships, automating routine tasks, and suggesting actions to improve productivity.
• Integrations: folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Pros

• Ease of use: folk is praised for its intuitive interface, making it accessible even to non-technical users with quick onboarding and a minimal learning curve.
• All-in-one: folk streamlines your workflow by allowing you to import contacts from LinkedIn, automatically find their emails, reach out through customizable email sequences, and track interactions in a pipeline, eliminating the need for multiple tools and saving time and money.
• LinkedIn Integration: Seamlessly import contacts from LinkedIn, track conversations within folk, and use templates for quicker, streamlined communication.
• Full customization: Make folk work for you through its custom fields, pipelines, automation and workflows instead of the other way around.
• Collaborate with your team: Close more deals quicker as a team. Make collaborative notes and attach them to each profile and assign reminders so the right person follows-up seamlessly.
• Integrations: folk integrates seamlessly with over 6,000 apps, including Gmail, Zapier, and Make, allowing users to centralize their workflow and reduce manual data entry.

Cons

• Reporting: Currently lacks reporting features, but there are plans for future implementation.

Price and plans

You can try folk for free with a 14-day free trial. After that, a monthly or annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $60 per user, per month.

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a web-based CRM for small businesses, offering lead management, automation, email integration, and customizable pipelines to optimize sales.

Key features

• Lead and deal management: Centralized tools to manage customer data, interactions, and sales pipelines, helping teams act quickly on opportunities.
• Sales automation: Workflow automation to handle repetitive tasks, such as lead routing, follow-ups, and email sequences, allowing sales teams to focus on closing deals.
• Email integration: Full email sync, templates, and tracking features, enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Advanced reporting and analytics: Real-time data analytics and custom reporting tools to track sales performance, forecast revenue, and gain actionable insights.
• Customization and security: Options to customize pipelines, fields, and user permissions, with robust security measures to protect data.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: Pipedrive is known for its intuitive and visually appealing interface, making it easy for users to navigate and manage their sales pipelines.
• Sales pipeline focus: Pipedrive is specifically designed for managing sales pipelines, offering a visual approach that helps sales teams track deals and activities effectively.
• Customization: Pipedrive allows for a high degree of customization, enabling users to tailor the platform to their specific sales processes with custom fields and workflows.
• Affordability: Pipedrive offers competitive pricing, making it accessible to small and medium-sized businesses without sacrificing essential CRM features.
• Automation features: Pipedrive includes automation tools that help streamline repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails and moving deals through the pipeline, saving time and boosting productivity.

Cons

• Limited advanced features: Pipedrive lacks some of the more advanced CRM features, such as extensive marketing automation and AI capabilities, which are available in other platforms.
• Basic reporting in lower tiers: The reporting and analytics features in the basic plans are somewhat limited, requiring upgrades to access more in-depth insights.
• Restricted Customization Options: While Pipedrive is customizable, it does not offer as many advanced customization options as some other CRMs, which can be a drawback for businesses with complex needs.
• No built-in email marketing: Pipedrive does not include built-in email marketing features, requiring users to integrate with third-party email tools for such functionality.
• Limited customer support hours: Customer support is not available 24/7, which can be inconvenient for businesses operating in different time zones or needing immediate assistance.

Price and plans

Pipedrive's annual subscription plan basis is as follows.

• Essential plan: Starts from $24 per user, per month.
• Advanced plan: Starts from $44 per user, per month.
• Power plan: Starts from $79 per user, per month.
• Enterprise plan: Starts from $129 per user, per month.

3. Zoho

Zoho is a CRM system with a strong sales focus. Its got features such as journey orchestration, sales process management and workflow automation. There's also something for marketing teams, including event management and customer segmentation.

Key features

• Sales automation: Automates sales tasks like lead management, deal tracking, and follow-up actions.
• Customizable dashboards and reports: Allows users to create and customize dashboards and reports for in-depth analytics.
• Multi-channel communication: Integrates with email, phone, social media, and live chat to manage customer interactions.
• Lead and contact management: Manages customer information, tracks interactions, and segments contacts for targeted campaigns.
• Workflow automation: Automates routine tasks and processes to improve efficiency and reduce manual effort.

Pros

• Affordability: Zoho CRM offers competitive pricing with various tiers, making it accessible to small and medium-sized businesses as well as larger enterprises.
• Customization: Extensive customization options allow businesses to tailor the CRM to their specific needs, including custom fields, modules, and workflows.
• Integration with Zoho suite: Seamless integration with other Zoho products (like Zoho Books, Zoho Projects, and Zoho Campaigns) creates a comprehensive ecosystem for managing different business functions.
• Multi-channel communication: Zoho CRM supports email, phone, social media, and live chat, enabling businesses to manage all customer interactions from a single platform.
• AI-powered features: Zia, the AI assistant, provides intelligent insights, predictive analytics, and task automation, helping to improve sales and marketing efficiency.

Cons

• Steep learning curve: The extensive customization options can be overwhelming for new users, requiring a significant time investment to master the platform.
• Complex setup: Initial setup and configuration can be complex, particularly for businesses without technical expertise or dedicated IT resources.
• User interface: Some users find the interface to be outdated or cluttered compared to other modern CRM platforms, which can affect usability.
• Performance issues: Occasional reports of slow performance, especially with large datasets or complex operations, can hinder productivity.
• Limited third-party integrations: While Zoho integrates well with its own suite of products, integration with third-party applications can be limited or require additional effort.

Price and plans

Zoho's free plan is limited to three users. For more features and seats, an annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Professional: $35 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $50 per user, per month.

4. HubSpot

Hubspot CRM is a user-friendly, scalable platform offering integrated tools for managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations efficiently.

Key features

• Marketing Hub: Includes email marketing, ad tracking, landing pages, and lead generation tools for effective lead capture and nurturing.
• Sales Hub: Provides deal tracking, pipeline management, sales automation, and reporting to streamline the sales process from lead to customer.
• Operations Hub: Syncs and automates business processes across different systems, ensuring seamless lead management.
• Lead scoring: Prioritize leads with predictive scoring to improve sales efficiency and focus on high-potential opportunities.

Pros

• User-friendly interface: HubSpot is known for its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it accessible for users of all skill levels.
• Comprehensive free plan: Offers a robust free version that includes essential CRM features, making it ideal for small businesses and startups.
• Seamless integration with marketing tools: HubSpot integrates smoothly with its marketing, sales, and service hubs, creating a unified platform for inbound marketing and customer management.
• Automation capabilities: Provides powerful automation tools for tasks like email marketing, lead nurturing, and sales workflows, helping businesses save time and improve efficiency.
• Strong customer support: HubSpot provides excellent customer support, including live chat, phone support, and a vast knowledge base.

Cons

• High cost at higher tiers: HubSpot’s pricing can become expensive as you move to higher tiers, which may be prohibitive for small businesses as they scale.
• Limited customization in free plan: The free plan and lower tiers have limited customization options, which can restrict flexibility for growing businesses.
• Complexity in advanced features: Some advanced features, such as custom reporting and workflows, have a steep learning curve and may require additional training.
• Email marketing limits: Email marketing functionality in the free plan is restricted by limits on the number of emails you can send, which can be a drawback for businesses with larger lists.
• Additional costs for add-ons: Many useful features, like advanced CRM capabilities and integrations, come as paid add-ons, increasing the overall cost.

Price and plans

HubSpot's sales hub plans on an annual subscription are as follows.

• Starter: $15 per user, per month.
• Professional: $450 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $1,500 per user, per month.

5. Salesforce

Salesforce is a robust CRM platform for large enterprises, offering tools for sales, marketing, service, and analytics, with extensive scalability.

Key features

• Customization and scalability: Salesforce allows businesses to tailor the platform to specific lead management needs with custom fields, objects, and workflows, making it adaptable to growth.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration: Salesforce Einstein provides AI-driven insights and automation, helping optimize lead management strategies and improve conversion rates.
• Extensive integration capabilities: Integrate Salesforce with a wide range of third-party applications through AppExchange, ensuring seamless data flow and efficient lead management.
• Advanced analytics and reporting: Gain deep insights into lead data with powerful analytics and reporting tools, enabling informed decision-making and strategy optimization.
• Mobile accessibility: Manage leads on the go with Salesforce’s robust mobile app, offering full access to key CRM features anytime, anywhere.

Pros

• Comprehensive feature set: Salesforce covers all aspects of lead management, from capturing and nurturing leads to conversion and post-sale follow-up.
• Highly customizable: Tailor Salesforce to your lead management processes with custom fields, objects, and workflows, ensuring it fits your business needs perfectly.
• Extensive integration capabilities: Seamlessly integrate Salesforce with other tools and platforms, enhancing lead management efficiency and data consistency.
• Advanced analytics and reporting: Utilize powerful analytics to gain insights into lead performance, helping refine strategies and improve conversion rates.
• Mobile accessibility: Manage and track leads on the go with Salesforce’s mobile app, ensuring you never miss an opportunity.

Cons

• High cost: Salesforce can be expensive, especially for small to medium-sized businesses, with high licensing fees and additional costs for add-ons and customization.
• Steep learning curve: Due to its extensive feature set, Salesforce often requires significant time and training for users to become proficient in lead management.
• Complex setup and customization: Initial setup and customization can be challenging and often require expert help or certified consultants, adding to the overall cost.
• User interface: Some users find the Salesforce interface to be outdated and not as intuitive as other modern CRM platforms, which can hinder usability.
• Overwhelming for small teams: Salesforce’s robust features may be overkill for smaller teams, leading to underutilization of the platform’s capabilities.

Conclusion

Choosing the best CRM for lead management is crucial for the success of any startup or growing business. With a variety of options available, it’s essential to consider your specific needs, budget, and existing technology stack. Platforms like folk, Pipedrive, Zoho, HubSpot, and Salesforce each offer unique features and benefits tailored to different business requirements. Whether you need advanced automation, seamless integrations, or user-friendly interfaces, there's a CRM out there that can enhance your lead management process and drive growth. Get started by trying folk for free here.

Need a helping hand? Use our free tool to find your perfect CRM match.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do busy sales teams use as a CRM for lead management?

Sales team that need help with lead management often use CRMs like folk, Pipedrive, Zoho, HubSpot, and Salesforce to streamline lead management, automate workflows, and enhance customer relationships. These platforms offer customizable features, integrations, and automation tools that cater to the specific needs of busy teams who want a single source of truth to collaborate from.

Do I need a CRM?

Yes, depending on the complexity of your process. A CRM helps manage customer interactions, streamline workflows, and improve lead management efficiency. It centralizes data, automates repetitive tasks, and provides insights for better decision-making, making it essential for businesses looking to grow and maintain strong customer relationships.

How much does a CRM cost?

CRM costs vary widely, typically ranging from $15 to $1500 per user per month, depending on the features and scalability required. For example, basic plans for platforms like Zoho CRM start at $20 per user per month, while more advanced options like Salesforce can go up to $1500 per user per month for enterprise-level solutions.

Does folk’s CRM respond to lead management needs?

Yes, folk’s CRM is tailored to meet lead management needs effectively. It offers key features like contact enrichment, LinkedIn integration, email integration, AI-powered tools, and extensive app integrations. These functionalities streamline workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance communication, making it a robust solution for managing leads and improving customer relationships.